Tag Archives: Don’t Look Now

The thriller from 1992, Basic Instinct, has its fair share of sexy moments – hard to avoid considering it stars Michael Douglas and Sharon Stone. Directed by Paul Verhoeven, this film combines a good crime drama with sizzling sexuality – most of it exuded by Sharon as Catherine Tramell. She’s a wealthy and ultra-confident writer of crime novels who is suspected of murdering a well-known rock star, since she’s the last person seen with him.

Douglas, as detective Nick Curran, is sucked into the investigation and into the suspect’s life in more ways than one as he winds up intimately entangled in the case and in her boudoir. The fact she also has a lesbian lover complicates things a bit, as the lover tries to kill Nick and ends up dead herself. During a hostile interrogation by police, including Curran, Catherine shocks and arouses the officers – and the audience – in a leg-crossing scene that it seems nobody can forget.

9 ½ Weeks may not be as famous as Last Tango in Paris but for its time (1986) it’s even more daring and in many ways much more human. Much of the erotic impact is due to Kim Basinger and Mickey Rourke, and the undeniable heat they generate between them. Kim as Elizabeth, a chic art gallery assistant and Mickey as John, a successful and extremely enigmatic commodities broker, get into what’s expected to be a short-term sexual adventure, with John in control.

Some of those adventures involve ice cubes and exotic foods, remarkably sensual props in this case, but don’t worry, there’s something for everybody as far as sexy scenes are concerned. What makes it a film worth watching for more than its turn-on value is Elizabeth’s realization that there are limits to how far she’ll go as a ‘sex slave’; it’s exciting but my goodness, there is more to life than kinky sex, and she wants hers back.

No one should go see Don’t Look Now (1973) just for the highly controversial bedroom scene starring Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland as husband and wife Laura and John Baxter. It’s controversial because there are many rumors that the action was not simulated; either way it sure looks like the real thing. In fact this film is a dark psychological thriller/drama that showcases the considerable acting talents of its co-stars as well as the abilities of director Nicholas Roeg.

Go see Don’t Look Now if you’re in the mood for a compelling mystery with psychic undertones and plenty of drama both physical and emotional – but if you’re also looking for a knock-out sex scene you will not be disappointed.

The film that jump-started a career for both William Hurt and Kathleen Turner in 1981, BodyHeat is well worth seeing for many reasons besides the undeniable heat generated by certain bodies. In fact the film uses Florida’s steamy climate to good purpose, as the characters are generally hot anyway and only heat up more when they interact. There’s a pretty good plot and some devious sub-plots and some impressive performances by all the major players, all mixed well with . . . well, body heat.

Body Heat was written and directed by Lawrence Kasdan, who got mixed but mostly very favorable reviews for his ‘neo-noir’ thriller loaded with eroticism and darker passions. Turner is Matty Walker the scheming seductress; Hurt is Nick Racine the laid back and not-too-legal lawyer. The scene with Matty leading Nick by a rather unconventional body part towards her bed is suggestive of what can be expected as the film unfolds, and it’s hot.

Most of us have certain expectations of French films, and Betty Blue certainly fulfills them, and then some. That’s if your expectations are of passionate, volatile, lusty people doing what comes naturally – and them some. The 1986 film, directed by Jean-Jacques Beineix and starring Beatrice Dalle as Betty and Jean-Hugues Anglade as Zorg, is what you might call romantic tragedy if it weren’t for all the fooling around before the tragedy part.

A struggling writer-turned-handyman meets a wildly uninhibited and quite neurotic young woman and they embark on a wildly uninhibited and extremely erotic affair. The movie has more than enough passion, lust, drama and action to satisfy most viewers, along with a suitably tragic-but-hopeful ending in which Betty’s troubles are laid to rest and Zorg gets his wordage back.

At bit more modern but no less effective in its attraction, the 2002 film Secretary comes off as both erotic and funny, a tricky maneuver that works remarkably well. Due to the talent and probably the personalities of Maggie Gyllenhaal and James Spader as masochist Lee Holloway and sadist Mr. Grey respectively, the action never falls to the level of pornography nor does it confuse the issue with any dark psychodrama.

Under the direction of Steven Shainberg the two characters take on the roles of submission and dominance as if they really were made for each other. On the face of it Maggie is just a secretary anxious to please the boss, but more than willing to go that extra marathon, never mind the mile. Underneath . . . that’s just about the truth of it, and Secretary is a funny hot movie.

After Secretary, if you haven’t already seen it get ready for the other Mr. Grey, all Fifty Shades of Grey in fact. Directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson (a woman, by the way) the first of a trilogy was released in February 2015, with so much pre-launch hype that some movie-goers suffered letdown. On the other hand, nobody has accused the producers or the actors of not trying hard, or of not looking very good while experimenting with sado-masochism. Not that you’ll see any bloodshed or actual pain, and the sadistic parts are titillation, not torture.

Most mainstream critics gave the film a severe brush-off, possibly because it was not over-the-top or drastically offensive to anyone. Dakota Johnson as Ana Steele, the smart, shy, intimidated virgin is downright believable. Jamie Dornan as Christian Grey, eccentric billionaire with major issues regarding male/female relationships, is not quite as believable but oh so hunky, so that’s OK. Whatever the critics may say, if it’s lots of steamy sex you’re looking for, Fifty Shades will deliver.